Ireland fail to reach Rugby League final

Ireland 18-26 France

Daryl Powell’s Irish side failed to progress to the European Nations Cup final tonight, despite scoring 18 unanswered second half points against France at Dalymount Park.

Ireland must now wait on the outcome of other results to see if there is a slim chance of them making the final.

They’ll hope for a Scottish victory over the French next weekend in Narbonne French in the final Group 2 match.

The winners of Group 1, likely to be England A or Wales, will play Group 2’s top team in the final at Warrington on November 16.

France and Ireland had clashed three times in recent years, with 1997’s 30-all draw in Paris the best that the Wolfhounds had managed previously.

A strong French outfit, without usual captain Pascal Jampy, racked up a quick fire 26 points inside the first half to silence a decent attendance for only the fourth official fixture the Irish had ever played in front of a capital crowd.

A stern talking to at the break saw some fire from the Wolfhounds in drizzly conditions with four tries being scored after the restart. St Helens’ Anthony Stewart, James King of Barrow, Leeds’ Francis Cummins and captain Philip Cantillon of Halifax all crossed for tries, with Salford half-back

Karl Fitzpatrick, scorer of the second-half winner in last weekend’s 24-22 turnover of Scotland, adding a sole conversion.